What Is Oleato, the Olive Oil Coffee From Starbucks?

Starbucks plans to bring Oleato, its olive oil coffee line, to the Chinese market. The drink debuted in Italy in late February, then reached the United States and Japan within about two months. Former CEO Howard Schultz has pushed the product hard, calling it a major transformation for the company, while consumer feedback has centered on greasy mouthfeel and stomach upset.

The idea came from Sicily, where Schultz noticed locals drinking extra virgin olive oil daily for health, and he returned to the United States to have a team develop the combination. Nutritionists note that caffeine plus olive oil can irritate the digestive tract, especially when the oil congeals as the drink cools.

Starbucks plans to introduce Oleato olive oil coffee to the Chinese market. This innovative beverage, strongly promoted by former CEO Howard Schultz, debuted in Italy in February this year and has since successively landed in the United States and Japan. However, consumer feedback has not been optimistic, with complaints frequently arising about the greasy mouthfeel caused by olive oil congealing when cold and diarrhea after drinking. Nutritionists point out that the double stimulation of caffeine and olive oil can easily trigger gastrointestinal discomfort. Despite the ongoing controversy, Starbucks still insists on global promotion. This article will sort out the background of Oleato's birth, its market performance, and its prospects for entering China.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

In his conversation with Howard, Neil Shen mentioned that the coffee industry is undergoing iterative upgrading: the 1.0 era belonged to instant coffee, while the 2.0 era gave rise to the specialty coffee wave. He then immediately posed a question to Howard—if we talk about Coffee 3.0, what kind of innovative product can represent this era?

Howard's answer was straightforward: "Starbucks' innovative beverage Oleato (olive oil + coffee)." Consistent with his response when previously interviewed by overseas media, he once again recounted the inspiration behind olive oil coffee...

The origin of the matter is not complicated. When Howard visited Sicily, Italy, last year, he noticed that locals maintained the habit of drinking extra virgin olive oil directly every day for health benefits, which inspired the idea of incorporating olive oil into coffee. After returning to the United States, he immediately organized a team to research and develop it. In late February this year, the product was first launched in Italy, and within the following two months it successively entered the U.S. and Japanese markets.

For this rather experimental beverage, Howard almost staked "Starbucks' future" as the chip. He publicly stated that the launch of Oleato would subvert the entire coffee industry and was another major transformation since Starbucks was founded 40 years ago. He also always maintained an optimistic attitude toward the future sales prospects of olive oil coffee.

However, reality did not go as Howard wished. In whichever market, most consumers' evaluations of this product were more criticism than praise. The most complained-about issue was that when olive oil is added to iced coffee, it gradually congeals, forming a texture similar to lard or butter, sticking to the inner walls of the mouth, with an extremely greasy mouthfeel.

At the same time, nearly three months after the product's launch, a large number of consumers reported diarrhea after drinking it, and severe cases even required medical treatment. In response to this phenomenon, a U.S. nutritionist clearly stated: such a combination is really not suitable for casual experimentation.

Registered dietitian Erin Palinski-Wade provided a professional analysis of this pairing. She pointed out that the caffeine and acidic substances in coffee itself irritate the stomach and intestines, while olive oil acts as an intestinal lubricant. The combination of the two can easily induce gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea.

A 16-ounce cup of olive oil coffee contains as much as 34 grams of fat, which is more fat than many people consume in a full meal. Such a high-fat beverage is especially unfriendly to people with stomach conditions.

In addition, because olive oil is liquid, after entering the human body it reaches the digestive tract faster than high-fat solid foods. If there are no carbohydrates and dietary fiber to buffer it, the body often cannot respond in time, and discomfort quickly appears.

The problem is that most consumers who choose olive oil coffee are just buying a cup in passing and rarely pair it with other food, which is exactly why diarrhea feedback is concentrated.

Normally, drinking olive oil directly needs to be done under professional evaluation and guidance. Although olive oil is one of the healthiest oils globally recognized and is rich in various beneficial nutrients, this does not mean its impact on the gastrointestinal tract can be ignored.

Therefore, the combination of olive oil and coffee is not suitable for ordinary consumers to drink daily.

But Starbucks' attitude is: not only ignoring these feedbacks, but instead accelerating the product's global rollout. This decision to enter the Chinese market will probably make many friends unable to sit still after reading about it...

Previously, when reporting related product feedback, some domestic netizens had already classified this beverage into the "dark coffee series" that was popular for a while, placing it in the same tier as products such as century egg latte and octopus latte.

Although overseas consumers show strong resistance, Starbucks still insists on pushing Oleato to stores worldwide. As for how domestic consumers will react, we might as well wait and see.

Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.